Moving On
by Chibi Kitsune1
Summary: My take on what happens after Episode 1x19.


**Moving On: A Snowbarry Story**

Note: Set in between episodes 19 and 20.

Barry Allen walked into STAR labs just in time to hear the last part of Cisco and Dr. Caitlin Snow's conversation.

"You kissed him back!" Cisco exclaimed in surprise.

"But it wasn't really him," Caitlin insisted. "It doesn't count."

"But you thought it was him," Cisco said with his voice rising in excitement. "That means you wanted to—"

"But it was not Barry!" Caitlin interrupted Cisco's insight that was much too close to what she suspected to be true.

"What wasn't me?" Barry turned the corner to see a red-faced Caitlin and Cisco with a large grin on his face.

"Everyman," Cisco and Caitlin said at the same time. They looked at each other in amusement.

Caitlin cleared her throat and explained. "When he was pretending to be you, I went to your house to tell you about my theory on the serum that would stop him from changing, but I didn't know I was actually talking to him. And, if you remember, before all the craziness started, you and I sort of had a falling out because of Dr. Wells. I thought that was the reason you were acting weird, and not that you were actually _not_ you."

"Okay," Barry said slowly. He looked over her shoulder to Cisco, who was struggling to keep a straight face.

"So," Caitlin continued, "I offered to bury the hatchet and make out – I mean, up! MAKE UP! Make up with him. Or you. Because I thought it was you. Make up. Bury the hatchet. Be friends again."

She nudged Cisco with her elbow because he was making choking noises. The kind of noises he made when he was trying to keep himself from laughing out loud.

"So it didn't really count, did it? Because I was talking to him and not really you," she said with a nervous and uncomfortable smile.

"Well, you thought it was me, so your intention was there," Barry started. "And I would have agreed to bury the hatchet too, if it was actually me at that time. So I think, yes, it counted as you and me making up and being friends again."

"It counted? Oh, okay," Caitlin murmured. "Well, it's settled then. We have officially made up and are friends again."

"Want to hug it out?" Barry teased her.

"No," she said flatly. "I want coffee."

Cisco burst out laughing.

She marched out of the room with determined steps. Barry and Cisco watched her leave with some amusement.

"Is she okay? I've never seen her so flustered about something." Barry observed to Cisco, who was still grinning widely.

"She's fine," Cisco chuckled. "It's hard for her to admit to some things that are staring her right in the face. Especially, when it comes to guys."

"Guys?" Barry asked in surprise. That was news to him. And it was also surprising that it bothered him a little. "She's seeing someone?"

"Let's just say, she's seeing someone in a different light," Cisco's grin became even wider. He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Barry's face looked even more baffled.

"So she is seeing someone?" Barry asked.

Cisco threw up his hands and shook his head. "I'm surrounded!" he muttered. "Come on, let's just get that trap ready."

Barry frowned in confusion but followed Cisco down the hall.

Caitlin Snow walked into STAR Labs to find Barry working at one of the computers. She was about to turn around and leave quietly when Barry looked up and spotted her.

"Hey, Caitlin," he greeted her.

"Hi, Barry," she said uneasily. "Where's Cisco?"

"Down at the basement, working on the trap," Barry replied.

"Well, I better go down there to see if he needs help," Caitlin said and quickly turned around.

"Caitlin, wait," Barry rushed to stand before her. "Are you angry with me? Because for the past few days, every time I walk into a room, you can't seem to wait to get out of that room. Are you avoiding me? Did I do something wrong?"

She sighed. "No, Barry, I am not angry with you, and you didn't do anything wrong."

"Then what is it?"

"Barry, I… it's not… it's me, it has nothing to do with you. Well, maybe a little bit," she stammered. "The thing is… I kissed you, okay!"

Barry's eyes widened in genuine surprise as he watched Caitlin pace nervously in front of him.

"Well, technically, I kissed you back, I didn't initiate it… caught me by surprise, in fact," she mumbled.

"Wait, what?" Barry shook his head. "When did I kiss you? Was I drunk? Because I don't remember anything like that. No, that can't be, I don't get drunk."

"It wasn't you… exactly," she turned toward him. "Remember when Everyman took your shape and I brought him here to make the serum? Well, for some reason, he thought there was something going on between us. And then, he kissed me."

Barry stood there is stunned silence.

"So, it's really weird, I mean, for him to think that, right?" she said, watching him anxiously. "I mean, we've never even gone out on a date or something."

"Well, we did go to that karaoke bar together," Barry reminded her. "Just the two of us."

"Yes, but we were on the job, sort of. Investigating or something," she said. "And you actually met Linda that night. And she eventually became your girlfriend. Well, now your ex-girlfriend. "

"Okay, but, technically, the night did end up with us going back to your place and me stripping you off your dress," he said while lifting shoulder.

"Because I was too drunk to do it myself," she reasoned. "It's not like we both ended up in my bed."

"Well, we kinda did," he said. At her wide eyes, he explained. "You asked to me stay with you until you fell asleep, so I sat beside you, on your bed, until you were asleep."

"Whose side are you on? Why are you trying to justify his kissing me?" Caitlin asked with her arms crossed in indignation.

"I'm not taking his side, I'm just trying to understand his reasoning," he explained with his hands raised in surrender. "You know, to figure out what made him think there was something between us."

"Okay, but he wasn't there when we went out on that 'date'," she raised her hands to make quotation marks. "He didn't have your memories."

"Right, so all he picked up on was that moment you came to Joe's house to find me," he said.

"Yes, I guess so," Caitlin thought back on that day. Her thoughts became analytic. "I went through the door before you could invite me in, indicating to him that the place was familiar to me and that I probably hang out there a lot. And when I saw him, thinking he was you, I just started talking to him in an informal and personal way, which he probably thought was too intimate to consider us as mere colleagues."

"That, and given the fact that he had taken the shape of a young man being visited by a very beautiful woman—," Barry stopped when he realized what he said and that Caitlin was staring at him in astonishment. He stammered, "I mean, you know, you are pretty. Very attractive. So I guess he would think that someone like me would likely be, uh, attracted to you."

"So that's it? He thought there was something going on between us because you're young and I'm pretty?" she asked incredulously.

"Well, that's a very simplistic way of putting it," he defended. "I mean, what else could he have picked up on? Was there anything you talked about to make him consider that there was something happening between us? And why did you kiss me back? I mean, him. Shaped like me."

It was Caitlin's turn to perturbed. "I don't know. I was surprised, I guess. One moment you were standing behind me asking those questions and the next thing I know, you were kissing me. I didn't really have time to react."

"So you just kissed me back," he stepped closer to her.

"It wasn't you," she said with an uneasy smile.

"But you thought it was me," Barry said softly.

Caitlin swallowed and nodded. "Yes."

"If I kissed you right now, would you kiss me back?" he asked, raising a hand to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"I don't know, I wouldn't be surprised anymore, would I?" she whispered.

"Caitlin…"

A loud ping from the computer monitor washed over the moment like a bucket of ice water. As if waking up from a daze, they stepped away from each other with awkward synchronicity.

"I should go help Cisco," she said.

"I should check on that computer," he said at the exact same time.

"Right. Okay. See you later," they said to each other in unison.

At the basement, Cisco facepalmed as he watched his friends awkwardly separate from each other after that almost intimate moment. He had been watching the whole encounter on the monitor that was hooked to the surveillance cameras. He shook his head in frustration.

"Next time," he promised.


End file.
